Story Title: Binding Contracts

Disclaimer: I don't own YYH.

Author's Notes: Wow. Are readers hesitant to read OC stories any more? I wonder if Ayumi's annoying behavior put people off…or the fact that it's an OC pairing. Honestly, the romance in this story more like how the pairing first meets. I prefer building relationships than smashing an OC girl with a canon boy. Unless, I've blabbed too much for readers…let's continue on! Enjoy.

Chapter Two: Cold Deception

Ayumi Miyamoto gasped when she discovered exactly who those three boys really were. Putting down the Reikai information file sheet, she leaned back in her chair and rubbed her aching forehead. What a dolt! She had insulted three very strong warriors for Reikai. They were exactly the kind of people she needed around her right now.

One of her older brothers slid open the traditional shoji screen door and entered the room. Hayate Miyamoto was a handsome man but lately his delicate frame had weakened considerably from a rare medical condition that turned him into a ghostly beauty. Slowly his kitsune familiar in bipedal form walked him to a large flat pillow lying beside the very low table where Ayumi was sitting.

"Brother, why are you out of bed? Please listen to the doctors for once…" Ayumi held on to her gold and red obi sash. Her brother was always so stubborn, even in his sickly state.

"Thank you…Momoko," he said as she gently lowered him onto the sitting pillow. He smiled to his sister and tucked his arms into the sleeves of his dark blue traditional men's kimono. With her arms wrapped around his right arm, Momoko laid her head on his shoulder and allowed her long black hair drape on him. "Little Sister, so I see Yuki has…returned from her errand."

"Yes. She is resting," Ayumi's dark brown eyes grew misty seeing her once strong brother so thin. "By any chance, do you need her?"

Hayate forced a laugh," Why would I? I have Momoko here." His familiar smiled and gently rubbed her head on his arm. Ayumi nodded. A pause of silence broke between them as the girl stared off into space. Hayate closely watched his sister's pained expression. Grasping a hold of her hand, he softly squeezed it. "Just tell me. It's okay."

Her reply was one word, a name in fact. "Mie."

Hataye lowered his gaze as well. Mie was only five when the Ataramichi family killed her. It was an ingenious but dirty trick to target Mie, who had no familiar yet to protect her. The act was a pivotal move, however because of how crucial Mie's role was to the family hierarchy. The power that allowed the Miyamoto family to control their kitsune familiars ran through the female line, which meant only Ayumi and Mie could serve as clan leader. And now with Mie dead and no heirs, Ayumi's life was in danger. Though it would pain him greatly, Hayate didn't care if he lost the ability to keep Momoko—his only sister was more precious to him.

"What made you think about Mie?"

"I don't know, Brother…" she spoke quietly. "But I don't want to die."

He rubbed his sister's hand," You won't. Yuki won't let it. And look, soon you'll have new bodyguards."

A smile appeared on her face. She held up one of the files, "Look. This one we can capture and keep forever. It will be simple…and then we'll have another friend."

That a girl, Hayate thought and smiled.

"Momoko, go get Yuki for me," Ayumi asked.

Momoko looked up to Hayate, who nodded and silently gave her permission to leave. Reluctantly, the kitsune girl left his warm side and walked down the cool hall to Yuki's private room. The other girls hated that Yuki had her own room and they had to sleep in a common room. Yuki was also the only one of them allowed to leave the house unattended, but Momoko wasn't jealous of her for any of that. Yuki may have received more but she was also expected to do more. Things like fighting, which none of the rest of them could do.

Sliding open the shoji screen, her brown eyes widened in surprise. The room was empty. Momoko slid open the screen to the outside. Sure enough, Yuki was outside. She was in her bipedal form. Physically and vocally, she remained the same. In fact the only differences between her human and demon form was that her hair turned platinum blonde, her fox ears and tail were visible, and she wore a dark blue, sleeveless, short-length kimono with a plain light green obi sash. Wrapping her red kimono sleeves around herself to keep warm, Momoko waited as Yuki finished eating the cool breeze. It wasn't eating in the normal sense. Unlike kitsune who take over and reside in a human body, Yuki was a normal kitsune that needed to daily drain energy to survive and use her spirit energy. There were many sources a kitsune could feed from and usually they fed from their owner's life energy. A non-combat kitsune like Momoko didn't need to take much from her owner, but for Yuki to use her kitsune abilities and her wind and ice abilities, she required more energy, more than Ayumi could safely give her.

Once Yuki had drained the wind of its essence, she became aware that Momoko was standing there. "Please forgive me for not responding to you quickly."

"It's okay, Yuki. You don't have to apologize," they took a seat beside one another. "Was your errand difficult?"

"Reikai has top security. I almost didn't make it. My spirit, there was only a drop left. Being in my fox form allowed me the full use of my energy but even so, it was difficult." Momoko nodded in understanding.

Momoko sighed," Ayumi works you too hard."

Yuki smiled, "Is that what you think?"

"Yes." Momoko grabbed Yuki's hand and interlaced their fingers," She's starving you for energy. You always come back with wounds. It's not right! This is abuse…"

A silly house pet like you wouldn't understand. This isn't abuse. This is reality. When you fight, you get hurt, that's how it goes, Yuki thought and laid her head against Momoko's shoulder. Lifting her right arm in front of them, they stared at the oval-shaped black tattoo of spiraling ancient illegible kanji. Momoko raised her left arm and touched her identical marking, "No choice. We have our roles, don't we? We know them well." Momoko hung her head and bit her lip. The wind stirred and tumbled the fallen leaves as silence fell upon the two fox girls.

"Ayumi wants you," Yuki rose from her seat and stretched. "Yuki…just be safe."

Yuki softly smiled," Okay, my friend." I'm sorry I cannot promise that, she thought.

"Ah, Yuki. Finally you've shown up," Ayumi handed her the file sheet. Yuki looked at the picture attached to the corner. "See him? Go make him into our friend."

She dropped the sheet and grabbed the black tattoo on her hand, "No…please…don't make me capture another." Falling onto her knees, she bit her lip and cringed, "Please, Miss Ayumi, you have plenty of us at your disposal."

The young woman raised an eyebrow and spoke with an annoyed tone," Yuki? Are you refusing a direct order?"

Fear spread through her, evident in how wide her eyes became and how pallid her face turned. Shaking her head and mouthing the word "no", it was already too late—the tattoo's magic had already taken effect. Black lighting-shaped bolts of energy coursed through her body. Yuki collapsed onto the floor and screamed in pain. Momoko gasped and watched in horror from the open doorway. Hayate closed his eyes and pretended not to notice.

"Fine! Fine…I'll do it," Yuki managed to reply. The magic shock ceased.

Ayumi smiled and stood up," Okay, good girl. Let me go change and we'll go together!" She hummed cheerfully as she jumped over Yuki's bent over body and left the room. Hayate, who was not far from where Yuki lay, placed his hand on her back and gently rubbed it. His attempt to console her was not soothing.

Yusuke and Kuwabara were laughing loudly as Kurama brought in their drinks. Recently it was brought to the two boys' attention that it was Hiei's birthday coming up. How in the world Kurama managed to pull that information from him…they didn't want to know and didn't really care. For all they knew, Reikai might just have file sheets on each one of them with all their personal information neatly presented. It would not surprise them.

"Even if we have a party, how are we going to get the runt to come?" Kuwabara asked and took his glass of orange juice.

Yusuke mischievously grinned and chuckled," We can say Yukina is in danger…"

"Urameshi, that's not funny!" Kuwabara held his fists up and said angrily.

"True. But it is a solution," Kurama took a seat in a chair across from them. "The problem is how we get Hiei to come. I doubt he would ever come if we said it's a birthday party."

"Well, we still have a little over a month to figure out how to lure him there at least," Yusuke tried to think of a better way. "Hmm…why don't we just kidnap him?"

Kurama raised an eyebrow, "Another option. Providing we are able to find him to kidnap him."

Kuwabara was laughing. He was picturing himself sneaking behind Hiei with a large, open canvas sack and throwing it over him. Then he slung it over his shoulder and walked calmly away, looking very much like Santa Claus with a very evil present. Needless to say, he was very amused at the moment.

All their plans were written out on a sheet of notebook paper. Kurama silently read the list. Keiko was going to make the cake and the three of them were all going to pitch in for decorations. As for a present…they had no idea what to get Hiei and most likely the cake and party was more than enough already.

After a few more minutes of planning, the well of ideas pretty much stagnated, so they decided to call it a night. Kurama stood at the doorway and waved goodbye to his friends when a loud scream startled the three boys. Running down the street was that annoying girl from a couple of days ago. She tripped and fell on her face in the street in front of Kurama's house.

Tears were in her eyes and her face was red where she had fallen as she raised onto her side," Oh it's you three! Please help me. There are several disguised men hunting me down with more snakes. Please…I need you."

Yusuke scratched the back of his head. This didn't seem right to him. Things were a bit fishy. "Where is that girl? Your bodyguard."

"I don't know. She was fighting. I got scared so I ran."

"You should have stayed with her." Kuwabara said. Ayumi nodded in agreement.

She didn't know how many men or snakes were chasing her. All she knew was that she last saw Yuki fighting in the park. The three decided to at least accompany her until she was reunited with her bodyguard.

With Ayumi's useless guidance, they wandered around the park, which wasn't that large to begin with, for what was going on to be an hour. Finally, Yusuke decided that the quickest way to find Yuki—and also to get rid of Ayumi—was to split up. He on his own would take left and, also on his own, Kurama would take the right side of the park. In case the snake-wielding men were still around, Ayumi would stay with Kuwabara while they checked the top and bottom halves.

Trudging behind Kuwabara, Ayumi puffed up her cheeks and glared at the back of Kuwabara's head. Why'd I end up with the ugly one? Ayumi thought. Grr, this isn't how I planned it to be! Hmm, how can I give him the slip?

Kuwabara was focused on sensing Yuki's spirit energy. There was Yusuke, Kurama, but then he picked up a strange pattern. It wasn't too strange however because he felt like he had sensed a similar aura somewhere before. He just couldn't put a finger on what and where he had before. He turned. Ayumi stopped.

"What are you doing?" she asked as he formed a small spirit sword in his hand. Frozen in fear, the young girl did not understand what was happening. He…he wouldn't? Throwing the sword like a javelin, Ayumi screamed and braced herself for death. The energy landed at her feet and struck a snake that had been poised to strike her. Lost in her planning, the young girl had not noticed the snake slithering behind her.

She laid a hand on her beating chest," Oh, for a moment there I thought you were aiming at me."

Kuwabara turned and chuckled," I don't need to waste spirit energy to kill you."

Her eyes widened. A flush of anger rushed to her cheeks," You wouldn't dare!"

Kuwabara knew he would never ever harm someone like Ayumi, but it didn't mean he couldn't joke around to see her reaction. They continued walking. Funny, Ayumi thought, there weren't actually any men chasing her. So where did that snake come from?

"You know," A calm voice said from the shadows. "If you kill a snake, its mate will hunt you down and kill you."

Kuwabara looked around frantically, "Where are you? Show yourself."

A few feet in front of Kuwabara, a young man dropped down from the trees. The Ataramichi boy wore an outfit that looked straight out of the cinema ninja costuming department. Guessing this was perfect timing, Ayumi made a run for it. The ninja tried to chase after her but Kuwabara stood in his way. He groaned…looks like he would have to wait.

Yusuke was finding nothing. He could sense nothing, and more and more he was thinking this was one big lie after another. The three of them must be big, soft-hearted dopes to agree to this. With an annoyed expression on his face, Yusuke charged through the park and kicked the bushes when he pleased.

Kurama could hear breathing up ahead. Parting away the thick bushes, he had to step back at what he saw…err…more like who he saw. It was a fox girl but at the same time it was Ayumi's bodyguard. Blood was running down her leg. Peering up at him, her pained expression was begging for help. Yet Kurama was hesitant to aid her. Something did not feel right...just something in his mind was telling him to stay away. Reluctantly and on guard, he walked through the bushes and into the clearing.

"Miss Ayumi…where is she?" she softly asked. "Do you know?"

"She is with Kuwabara," he replied. Nodding his head, he added," Can you walk on it?"

Yuki nodded yes," I was only resting. It will take a lot of energy to heal."

"So you're really a kitsune? You hide your energy scent very well," slowly he moved closer.

Half-heartedly laughing, she smiled while turning her head and looking at the ground," It takes a lot of energy to fool another kitsune into believing I'm human."

Hmm, so she was an actual kitsune and not a fox living in a human body. Kurama found it slightly interesting but not really enough to care. "I can heal and wrap that wound at my house, so you don't have to use energy."

Awkwardly, she stood, " Thank you. I appreciate it."

"Yuki! There you are," Ayumi ran. She stopped and covered her gasp with her hands,"Is that blood? Eww, that's disgusting, Yuki."

"I'm sorry, Miss Ayumi," she replied.

Ayumi ignored her and walked past her. Gently turning the top half of her body from side to side, the young girl coyly peered up at Kurama and spoke in a cheery voice." Ah, thank you so much for helping me find her."

Kurama blinked his eyes rapidly," Aren't you concerned? Your guardian is hurt."

Ayumi flicked her wrist in a dismissive guesture," She gets hurt all the time. Nothing new."

The young man pretended to scratch his cheek as he gave her a funny look. Personally he saw that as more of a problem than something to ignore, but whatever. It wasn't really his place to meddle in another's affairs.

"Yuki, let's mend your wound," he said and motioned her to follow. Nodding, Yuki slowly limped beside him. "Are you sure…you can walk?"

She replied with a gesture and a look that said not to worry about her. Ayumi puffed her cheeks and glared at the two of them," You're not leaving me alone, are you?"

Kurama turned and spoke flatly," You can follow us."

"Whatever," she crossed her arms over her chest, "Let's get this over with…like now?"

Yuki's ears perked. That was the signal. She turned to Kurama. "I'm…sorry," she said in a saddened tone.

Yuki grabbed his left wrist. Instantly, black energy bolts coursed through his body. Fallen onto his knees, Kurama screamed in pain. What was happening to him? Why…why was she doing this to him? Breaking her grasp, quickly he discovered the energy still could pass through him. A sensation of being chained, it was as if his will was being imprisoned in chains. This was not kitsune energy but magic, dark magic in particular.

Ayumi threw back her head and cackled," Yay! Good girl, Yuki!" The young girl was jumping and dancing for joy. "We have a new kitsune friend. You're going to love serving the Miyamoto family."

His eyes dangerously flashed and his face twisted into a grimace. Through clenched teeth, he spoke in a smoldering tone,"I will never be your servant."

Ayumi crouched in front of him and patted his head," In time. When the curse takes full effect. Then you'll be as subservient as Yuki."

Kurama looked at Yuki. The first thing he noticed was that the blood running down her leg was gone. It had been all an illusion. This…this had all been planned. Yusuke, Kuwabara, and especially he had been tricked. The two kitsune momentarily locked eyes. His were fighting back rage. Hers were fighting tears.

The fox girl averted her eyes and closed them. Her shaking hand was covering the curse mark on her arm. Yuki hated this part of her service, more than anything else. If only…if only she had not been so scared...

If only she had chose death.

Ayumi laughed again and rose from her crouched position, "Yuki, let's go." With her head hung low, the fox girl trailed behind her owner.

Slowly, Kurama stood. The curse, he could feel his demonic energy fighting it within his body. There had to be a way he could break it…somehow. Footsteps rustled the bushes. It was Yusuke and Kuwabara. They had sensed a strange energy and rushed over. Kurama explained that it had been nothing and he had already taken care of it. It was getting late and the sun was setting soon. The three boys said their goodbyes and parted for their respected homes. The streetlights were beginning to flicker on as Kurama was walking up his street as a small black circle began to form on the underside of his arm.

—end Chapter Two